Our team is in need of a performance testing process. We use ASP.Net (both web forms and MVC) and performance testing is not currently built into our projects. We occasionally do some ad-hoc analysis, such as checking the load on the server or SQL Server Profiler, but we don't have a true beginning to end, built into the project performance testing methodology.

Where is a good place to start? I'm interested in both:

Process - General knowledge, including best practices.

Essential list of tools.

I'm aware of a few tools, such as what's built into the pricier versions of VS 2010 and JetBrains products, though I haven't used them.